was a Japanese

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

, and scholar of

kokugaku was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Edo period. scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of ...

as well as classical Japanese literature. He was also a historian, author, and military officer.

Biography

Hasuda was born in 1904 into the family of ,

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of the Ōtani Jōdo temple in the town of Ueki. His father possessed a sword that once belonged to

Katō Kiyomasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama period, Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. His court title was . His name as a child was ''Yashamaru'', and first name was ''Toranosuke''. He was one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi's Seven ...

. In 1918, he contracted

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (Pulmonary pleurae, pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant d ...

and took a leave of absence from school until the following year. Around this time he wrote one of his early poems, . Pleurisy haunted him for the remainder of his life, and several years before his death he was found to have

lesions A lesion is any damage or abnormal change in the tissue of an organism, usually caused by injury or diseases. The term ''Lesion'' is derived from the Latin meaning "injury". Lesions may occur in both plants and animals. Types There is no de ...

in his hilar nodes. He was known for his simultaneous pursuit of literary and martial arts. After entering college in 1923, he became influenced by Prof. and developed an interest in kokugaku, by that time a mostly abandoned discipline, and studied the writings of

Motoori Norinaga was a Japanese people, Japanese scholar of active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies. Life Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka, Mie, Matsusaka in Ise Province ...

. Hasuda was strongly impressed with the book by historian

Ishihara Shiko'o was a Japanese historian, educator, and author active during the early 20th century. Biography Ishihara Shiko'o was born near the coal mining town of Arao in what was then the Tamana District of Kumamoto Prefecture. His father was (1841 ...

on the

Shinpūren Rebellion The was an uprising against the Meiji government of Japan that occurred in Kumamoto on 24 October 1876. The , an extremist Shinto organization of former ''samurai'' of the Kumamoto Domain, were extremely opposed to the Westernization of Japan ...

, . Ishihara elaborated upon the teachings of the nativist Hayashi Ōen, according to whom the affairs of government ought to be entirely subordinated to the affairs of Shinto through systematic divination, a position that Hasuda respected. Through , Hasuda became acquainted with the young Hiraoka Kimitake, later known as

Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...

. On October 25, 1943, Hasuda was called to active service in the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

. Before his departure for

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, he reportedly said to Mishima, . recalled Hasuda raging as he prepared to leave, saying . In 1945, Hasuda's platoon advanced to

Shōnan is the name of a region along the coast of Sagami Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture, central Japan. Centered on Sagami River, about 60 kilometers southwest of Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and ...

where he was assigned to a mortar regiment headquartered at the Royal Palace of Johor. Immediately after Hasuda and his men arrived in Singapore, one of his subordinates got into a fight with an officer of the

Kenpeitai The , , was the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police that specialized in clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, HUMINT, interrogated suspects ...

and injured him. When the subordinate was about to be punished by the regimental authorities, Hasuda suggested that he, as the platoon commander, was responsible for the subordinate's negligence, and he and his Captain went to personally apologize. The subordinate's punishment was dropped. At the time of Hirohito's order to stand down, Hasuda had a conversation with another an officer named . Takagi said, "Now hat we've been defeated in the future when Japanese children are asked 'Who is the most important man in Japan?' they will say either Roosevelt or Jiang Jieshi." Enraged, Hasuda shouted, "That is an idiotic thing to say. As long as Japan exists, as long as the Japanese race exists, the Emperor will be supreme, and no matter who teaches them, the children of Japan will always revere him as supreme." Takagi said, "That's merely an ideal." Still fuming, Hasuda said, "Just because we were defeated doesn't make it any less vital." Takagi shot back, saying, "What a joke. We don't even know whether or not we'll make it home alive. As the regiment commander suggested, instead of wasting time with useless ideology, shouldn't we be figuring out how to get back alive in the fall?" Hasuda replied, "Whether we return alive or dead, we must never abandon the Japanese spirit!" Hasuda's regiment commander Colonel announced that the division would surrender immediately to British forces. Upon hearing Nakajō's statement, Hasuda flew into a rage. By that point, Hasuda had already become convinced that Nakajō was in fact a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

spy who had sabotaged the division and whose real name was "Kim" (金). Hasuda had brought his father's sword with him, and wanted to use it to kill Nakajō. However, he was unskilled in

kendō is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). It began as samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship exerc ...

and hesitated, deciding to use his pistol instead. When Nakajō was proceeding to Shōnan Shrine in order to burn the regimental flags prior to surrender, Hasuda ambushed his entourage. Accusing the others of treason, he shot Nakajō to death and then immediately killed himself with the same pistol. After his death, a postcard was found on his person into which he had written . He was

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

by Japanese personnel in Johor Bahru. After the war, the Allied powers did not allow Hasuda's remains to be returned to Japan. As a result, his bones were disposed of in an unmarked grave in a

rubber tree ''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now p ...

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

near

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasuda, Zenmei 1904 births 1945 suicides 1945 deaths People from Kumamoto Prefecture Writers from Kumamoto Prefecture Japanese anti-communists Kokugaku scholars Japanese murderers Japanese nationalists Japanese Shintoists Japanese soldiers Anti-American sentiment in Japan Anti-Christian sentiment in Japan Japanese critics of Christianity Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II Japanese military personnel who died by suicide Suicides by firearm Suicides in Asia